Angeles City

Last night I needed to make somewhat of an emergency phone call to USA. Between my GF and me, it took well over 20 attempts to get a ring tone on the other end. Total time lost was over 90 minutes. Load wasted was in excess of 300 php. If there was a one-way plane back to USA in front of my house last night, I would have left all of my things here, got on it, and never returned. The phone service was beyond inexcusable and lower than pi$$ poor.

And tomorrow I get to travel to the world class city of Manila. I'm so looking forward to it.

[QUOTE=Slippery;1647830]Last night I needed to make somewhat of an emergency phone call to USA. Between my GF and me, it took well over 20 attempts to get a ring tone on the other end. Total time lost was over 90 minutes. Load wasted was in excess of 300 php. If there was a one-way plane back to USA in front of my house last night, I would have left all of my things here, got on it, and never returned. The phone service was beyond inexcusable and lower than pi$$ poor.

And tomorrow I get to travel to the world class city of Manila. I'm so looking forward to it.[/QUOTE]You can download Magic Jack app on iPhone and iPad for free. Then unlimited calls to USA and Canada free over wifi from your iPhone or iPad. Calls are crystal clear if you have good wifi connection. Also you can do the calls over 3 G on your load.

Also free calls over Viber and Facebook messenger using wifi or 3 G.

[QUOTE=Slippery;1647830]Last night I needed to make somewhat of an emergency phone call to USA. Between my GF and me, it took well over 20 attempts to get a ring tone on the other end. Total time lost was over 90 minutes. Load wasted was in excess of 300 php. If there was a one-way plane back to USA in front of my house last night, I would have left all of my things here, got on it, and never returned. The phone service was beyond inexcusable and lower than pi$$ poor.

And tomorrow I get to travel to the world class city of Manila. I'm so looking forward to it.[/QUOTE]Standard in desktop Gmail is free calls to USA as well.

[QUOTE=Dg8787;1647841]You can download Magic Jack app on iPhone and iPad for free. Then unlimited calls to USA and Canada free over wifi from your iPhone or iPad. Calls are crystal clear if you have good wifi connection. Also you can do the calls over 3 G on your load.

Also free calls over Viber and Facebook messenger using wifi or 3 G.[/QUOTE]This post was made for informational purposes only with no intentions to insult or ridicule anyone. Also I do not own any stock nor do I have any financial interest in any of the above mentioned products.

[QUOTE=Slippery;1647830]Last night I needed to make somewhat of an emergency phone call to USA. Between my GF and me, it took well over 20 attempts to get a ring tone on the other end. Total time lost was over 90 minutes. Load wasted was in excess of 300 php. If there was a one-way plane back to USA in front of my house last night, I would have left all of my things here, got on it, and never returned. The phone service was beyond inexcusable and lower than pi$$ poor.

And tomorrow I get to travel to the world class city of Manila. I'm so looking forward to it.[/QUOTE]You remind me of a situation I experienced last week, when I had to get something done with my bank in the USA I was in Davao, and using Skype to call the United States. Even Skype Hugh requires a reasonable wifi or cell signal. I could not sustain a single call for longer than 10 minutes without the wifi and / or cell strength ebbing suddenly with the result that the calls were inevitably cut off. Eventually, I just gave up and figured I'd wait until I got to the Fairmont in Makati which maintains its own base station and has a consistently strong, stable wifi.

There's not a single aspect of any infrastructure here that comes close to meeting any reasonable international standard.

GE.

I think that if you are calling another party who has an iPhone that FaceTime Audio is far superior to Viber or any of the other free calling apps. I use it for business conference calls all over the world. Just need one guy on the other end with an iPhone who puts the call on speaker. Wifi doesn't have to be perfect.

[QUOTE=Dg8787;1647847]This post was made for informational purposes only with no intentions to insult or ridicule anyone. Also I do not own any stock nor do I have any financial interest in any of the above mentioned products.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Slippery;1647830] If there was a one-way plane back to USA in front of my house last night, I would have left all of my things here, got on it, and never returned.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=GoodEnough;1647926]
There's not a single aspect of any infrastructure here that comes close to meeting any reasonable international standard.

GE.[/QUOTE]In spite of this constant non stop complaining, the only reason kano's ever leave is usually as a result of a black stamp on their passport or in a pine box. I'm not sure if it's by choice or necessity. They just won't go home!

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;1647598]I think, AV, things have changed: they've gotten worse. On Thursday night I was invited to an event hosted by the French Chamber of Commerce. The event is called Soire Beaujolais, and it's quite an elegant affair, held at the Manila Hotel on Roxas. I was staying at the Fairmont in Makati, and th distance between the two venues is slightly less than 10 Kms. The trip via Uber car took me an hour and ten minutes. By the time I actually got to the event I was so wrung out that I could barely enjoy it.

Unless one is fortunate enough to be able to restrict his movements to an area of about two square kilometers within Makati, or perhaps Ortigas, Manila is, for me, a thoroughly unlivable city. There are, to be sure, acceptable areas, but the insufficient, poorly maintained infrastructure, the lack of effective, comfortable public transport and a communications system that's among the worst in the world makes the place undesirable.

Just to reinforce the point made above, there's evidently an international scale that measures the extent to which any given country has become a "failed state. " The index is applied to all, or at least to most countries in the world, and results are compiled annually, though I don't remember the organization that compiles the data. The Philippines keeps sliding further downward on the scale year by year, as summarized in an Op Ed column in today's "Inquirer. " So, evidently there's at least some empirical evidence to substantiate my contention that things just get worse.

GE.[/QUOTE]GE, you are totally correct. The Philippines is consistently in the bottom 30% of all countries surveyed in the latest World Bank business indices, Transparency International indices and OECD economy indices. In fact there are a large number of countries in Africa that rank better.

But do we really want things to get better. ? Food for thought.

[QUOTE=Fastpiston;1648334]GE, you are totally correct. The Philippines is consistently in the bottom 30% of all countries surveyed in the latest World Bank business indices, Transparency International indices and OECD economy indices. In fact there are a large number of countries in Africa that rank better.

But do we really want things to get better. ? Food for thought.[/QUOTE]Nice. Do we really want it to eventually become Thailand or somewhat stay stuck in the slow lane?

In regards to traffic, those times can be pretty normal at different times of the day or night. I don't think anything we say or do is going to change that anytime soon. You either avoid traveling those routes at those times or you plan around it by leaving earlier. It's the Philippines.

[QUOTE=SteelBaton;1648198]I think that if you are calling another party who has an iPhone that FaceTime Audio is far superior to Viber or any of the other free calling apps. I use it for business conference calls all over the world. Just need one guy on the other end with an iPhone who puts the call on speaker. Wifi doesn't have to be perfect.[/QUOTE]I concur. I use FaceTime Audio frequently, both to call the states and elsewhere internationally. It's got the best clarity I've found of all the free calling software.

GE.

[QUOTE=Fastpiston.

But do we really want things to get better. ? Food for thoughtQUOTE] Yes, their loss is our gain.

[QUOTE=DCups;1648431][QUOTE=Fastpiston.

But do we really want things to get better. ? Food for thoughtQUOTE] Yes, their loss is our gain.[/QUOTE]You mean poon for thought? If the economy for the average Juan got better then the supply side of poon would be less and the prices would go up. Simple comparison is China and Thailand. Of course in my heart I do wish things were better for them.

There isn't a whole lot we can do to improve the Philippines. The wealthy and corrupt have a lock on this economy and country and don't care about their people. However we can provide a little help to some in our own ways.

[QUOTE=Member#3892;1647775]



No problem to get a trike to DAU for 100 php. [/QUOTE]What's the "local" price from fields to Dau terminal in a trike?

[QUOTE=Amjeck;1648452]What's the "local" price from fields to Dau terminal in a trike?[/QUOTE]My girlfriend lives about 20 minutes from Fields and we paid 120 for that ride. Between Dau and Fields I just hand them 80 when I get out. I don't do all of the negotiating beforehand. If they have something to say about it I just keep walking and tell them this isn't my first time.

I met a monger at the bus station last time I was going and taught him the ropes. Wasn't his first time going to AC, but his first time taking the bus. He had 2 big ass suitcases. I told him that because of those bags it is best for him to give the driver 100. I'm not sure how that turned out or if the bags even fit the trike for that matter.

Same with taxis in Manila. I generally know the price to get where I am going. If I see he has a hot meter then I just give him the amount I know it is supposed to be and tell him nice try. It pays to have change in situations like these.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;1648462]My girlfriend lives about 20 minutes from Fields and we paid 120 for that ride. Between Dau and Fields I just hand them 80 when I get out. I don't do all of the negotiating beforehand. If they have something to say about it I just keep walking and tell them this isn't my first time.

I met a monger at the bus station last time I was going and taught him the ropes. Wasn't his first time going to AC, but his first time taking the bus. He had 2 big ass suitcases. I told him that because of those bags it is best for him to give the driver 100. I'm not sure how that turned out or if the bags even fit the trike for that matter.

Same with taxis in Manila. I generally know the price to get where I am going. If I see he has a hot meter then I just give him the amount I know it is supposed to be and tell him nice try. It pays to have change in situations like these.[/QUOTE]To Mr E.

I don't know why anyone need to bring 2 suit case to AC I always just carry a small bag or back pack only, I paid just 50 p last time from the check point to Dau stations, I know most trike guy want 100 p I just start walking price will drop, from Manila I take the P Rabbit from Avendia bus stations 95 p they first stop at Dau station and then to AC bus stations if you ask the driver nicely he will stop at the corner of MacArthur and Field and you can walk to hotel from there.

Fast eddie 48.